December 2011 Sacramento Kings Wiretap

DeMarcus Cousins intends to reduce the mistakes from his rookie season now that he is a second-year pro.

Cousins was foul and turnover prone, plus he shot just 43 percent from the floor.

"I'm actually hoping for all of that," he said about improving in those areas. "But it's really just me playing smarter. But I've got to play a lot smarter."

Cousins is the type of player that learns more from experience than instruction, according to Paul Westphal.

"It's hard for him learn by somebody telling him something, but he does learn," Westphal said. "One of the things about last year was I knew DeMarcus was going to have to play through some mistakes in order to find where the boundaries are. I expect his improvement to be in the areas of shooting percentage, turnovers and fouls."

Cousins reflected on situations where he didn't play as smart as he was capable.

"I'm playing against some of the smaller big men, and I'm trying to take them off the dribble," Cousins said. "I should be using my body, using my strength. It's just knowing what to use."

As the regular season approaches, Tyreke Evans is hearing a more insistent, demanding Paul Westphal.

"Coach talked to me about (improving) my defense before camp," Evans said. "I know if I play great defense, we can be a good team. That's why I asked coach to put me on Monta (Ellis). It's not easy, though. When I talked to Chuck (Hayes) in practice, he said, 'You have to defend to make the playoffs.' Chuck has helped me a lot. Never played with anybody who talked so much on defense. But, man, it's hard."

Leaning back in his chair in the locker room late Tuesday, Evans laughed. He had ice bags on his knees, on his right foot, on his left shoulder.

"If I got to (defend) every night," he added, "I have to be ready. You know? Like I said, I just have to get the will to be a great defender. We got guys who can handle, score, like Marcus, Jimmer. That's my goal, my focus. I want to win."

Chuck Hayes has been cleared to play after the Kings voided his four-year, $21 million contract because of concerns about his heart, according to his agents.

The Sacramento Bee reported on Thursday that Hayes had been diagnosed with Pericarditis, inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart. But Hayes sought further testing at the renowned Cleveland Clinic and underwent "a full day of exhaustive testing and exams" on Wednesday, according to a statement released by BDA Sports.

On Thursday morning, a group of specialists headed by Dr. Steven E. Nissen determined that Hayes "does not have a heart problem."

"Their recommendation is that he can continue to play professional basketball without any concerns," the statement read.

"I have to see what teams are interested still. It’s back to the drawing board, block one, lets go on this merry-go-round," said Hayes to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.

Sacramento had apparently decided to go another direction at center when the Kings last week signed Chuck Hayes to a four-year, $21 million. But Hayes failed a physical due to a heart condition earlier this week and his contract was voided.

The Kings then turned back to Dalembert, who averaged 8.1 points and 8.2 rebounds for them last season while making $13.43 million.

Stojakovic has received interested from a number of clubs, but back and neck troubles have made it too difficult to continue.

"When you start competing against your body more than you're preparing for the actual game," Stojakovic said, "it's a wakeup call."

In a statement, NBA commissioner David Stern said: "Peja will go down as one of the great shooters in the history of the NBA. His success was the result of a tireless work ethic and an unquenchable desire to be the best at what he did. Peja's legacy, however, goes way beyond his 3-point skills and that elusive Finals title he won last season with the Dallas Mavericks. Peja was part of the wave of international stars that helped introduce the world to the NBA game and inspired thousands of fans to begin playing the sport of basketball."

Joe and Gavin Maloof said Sunday they are optimistic about keeping the Kings in Sacramento.

“Tickets are definitely up over last year,” Gavin said. “They're up 10 percent over this time last year, and they're continuing to move.”

“I'll give you an example of how much better things are going," Joe said. "We sold $1 million worth of tickets last week. In five days. That's a lot of tickets. Gavin and I, we live here full time now. We're here every day, and we're still calling people.”

The Kings owners made their first public comments about the new collective bargaining agreement.

“I think it's a very fair deal for everyone involved,” Joe said. “The players are going to do extremely well. We're going to do a lot better. In the long run, it came out great for small markets like us (20th nationally), it really did.

“The revenue sharing is huge. Our market alone, it's going to be a tremendous amount of money, so the gap between the larger markets and smaller markets has really narrowed. Now we have a real chance to compete against larger-market teams, which is what the league wanted to get accomplished. And, like Gavin says, we have great flexibility with our team payroll, so we can strike at any time.”

Chuck Hayes, who signed a four-year, $21 million contract with the Kings last week, has an apparent heart condition.

"A recent stress echo test performed on Chuck Hayes revealed an abnormality which will require further testing this evening and tomorrow. An update will be provided as more information becomes available."